The Lady in the Library While waiting for a summer storm to pass, I chatted with a woman who gave me a clue to a lost but cherished heirloom. By Patricia Riddle Gaddis It was a summer day with a menacing sky that threatened severe thunder storms. I’d been running errands all day and had hoped to make it back home before the rain, but lines at the post office and grocery... [read more]

The Pleasure of Doing Nothing Useful It's not what you don't do, it's the way you don't do it. By Roger Housden You might think there could be nothing more simple than doing nothing for no reason; doing something merely for the pleasure of it, without any thought of future profit or gain, without adding any skill or knowledge to your store, without any usefulness at all... [read more]

Crash Landing I was flying my plane back home when the engine suddenly failed and the plane began dropping through the sky. By John Farrell   The stars shone bright in the blue-black sky that night as my twin-engine Beechcraft Baron airplane took off from the runway in Dunkirk, N.Y. Everything was in order, according to my instruments, and I settled in for the 20-minute flight back... [read more]

All Part of the Plan I had been diagnosed with breast cancer and I needed God's reassurance. I found it during a church service I attended. By Eileen Fanning Fisher My sister and I shared a corned-beef sandwich at the Irish Heritage Festival in the park. “Do you want to join in the ceilidh dancing?” she asked. “You go ahead, Mary. I’ll watch.” Mary wove her way around... [read more]

A Camel in a Cage A woman who lost her sight uses a wonderful parable to knock down self-imposed limitations. By Janet Perez Eckles A baby camel asked his mother, "Why do we have such large hooves on our feet?" She turned to him. "God made us that way for a very special reason," and she began her explanation. "The big hooves are to keep us from sinking into the sand."... [read more]

'It's OK to Change' The journalist and First Lady of California on what's really important in life. By Maria Shriver From 'Just Who Will You Be?' by Maria Shriver. Copyright (c) 2008 Maria Shriver. Published by Hyperion. All Rights Reserved. We worry, "Am I fulfilling my parents' expectations of me?" "What will my friends think of the school I'm going to?" Later... [read more]

Learning When to Let Go and Let God   I find that it is not the circumstances in which we are placed, but the spirit in which we face them, that constitutes our comfort. -Elizabeth T. King From "When God and Cancer Meet" by Lynn Ebb: There it was in black and white in Guy's surgeon's notes dated January 24, 1994: "moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma of the prostate, Gleason... [read more]

Airplane Angel A young, attractive woman I met on the plane taught me it's never too late to make a new start in life. By Paul Houston About ten years ago, I was on a plane going west, and a young woman boarded and sat across the aisle from me. I noticed her for two reasons. She was very attractive, and she was holding a teddy bear about half her size. After she sat down,... [read more]

Beauty, Shining Through My son's body was covered with scars, but his spirit came through pure and true. By Lynne Massie   It was 4 o'clock in the morning on June 9, 2003, when I received the phone call parents dread. "This is the emergency room calling and your son was just brought in with severe burns on his face, neck, and arms. We have called for an... [read more]

Finding Grace If you want to learn the meaning of faith, get down to a child's level. By Bob Perks "What could this possibly be?" I thought to myself. "Why would someone place that sign so low? No one could read it."   You see them everywhere. Small signs promoting yard sales, cars, and business opportunities are posted on poles and lobbies of stores throughout the... [read more]